This week, we have another guest writer and I am very excited about this article. After hearing Paulo’s testimony I was amazed at his dedication being so young. What I did not know is that he was even younger than I thought. This truly remarkable young man is on fire for the Lord and is enthusiastic about bringing his generation to Christ. I hope you are as inspired as I am by his life.
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Hi, my name is Paulo, I'm 17 years old. I am part of the Church of the Quadrangular Gospel of Rio Negro PR in Brazil. As many say, I was “born” in the church, I always attended services on Thursdays and Sundays. I was baptized in water on December 20, 2015, and from that day forward I started my walk with Christ. At that time, He began to mold me into His workmanship, making me someone better.
I never had the idea of doing something for the Kingdom of God. I was always just a “spectator” in what God had to do. I never participated. However, there came a time when Jesus opened my eyes to what He had to do in my generation, and I couldn't just watch His move in other people. I wanted to participate too. However, the question that came up was: “Do what?”. This is a question that is created in every new convert. We all had this question, and with me it was no different. But, when we relate to God, He shows us what we were born to do. So it works in the Kingdom of the Lord. The more intimacy, the more we will know about our mission here on Earth.
In 2019, I was deeply moved by the Lord to do something with the youth, both in my city and in Brazil. I believe that is when my heart began to be ignited with love for young Brazilians. I didn't know how to start, but I was fully convinced that this was what God wanted from me. I started speech training and taking lessons in cells (small groups) of my Church. As I rested and started knowing more about the Lord, He was opening my heart to new things He had to do through me.
It was then on a Wednesday that my friend (Adryan) called me to preach in a worship service that would take place in the square near my house. Without much enthusiasm, I accepted, I hardly knew what was going to happen. Sunday came, and I prepared the word, and it was something very simple. I laugh to this day remembering every detail. Misael started playing the guitar and singing the praise songs that were scheduled, and I began to notice that as Misael played, more young people were flocking to the square. After the third praise song, Adryan preached about God's love for us, talking about the price that was paid so that today we could have life. Misael played two more worship songs and then it was my turn. I confess that I was a bit nervous because I felt something big in that place. It created an atmosphere of brokenness. It was something that moved my heart. I started by asking, “Are there any disciples of Jesus here?” because the message I would carry was a message about preaching the Gospel. I noticed that I started to say some things that were not "programmed", God used me in a powerful way, and at the end of the message I saw some broken young people, crying and confessing to Jesus as the only and sufficient Savior. Diogo, who accepted Jesus that day, is now part of our team, helping us with praise and worship.
Since then, our hearts have fallen in love with this - what God began to do through us. We began to communicate the Gospel boldly in the squares. We had testimonies of healings, deliverances, and hearts coming to life again. There I realized that it's not worth it just to be a spectator in the Church. We saw how satisfying and pleasurable it is to obey the Lord when He says, "GO!" There is power in that word. There is life in this ordinance of our master Jesus.
Today, we disciple young people who have accepted Christ in the meetings. We plan to unite with other churches so that our work will be even stronger. The Lord doesn't want churches separated because of denominations. There will come a time when we need to unite together again and preach the good news. The work we do in the squares involves brothers from different denominations, as we know that we are a body and that one needs the other. With this, our work has evolved thanks to the Lord Jesus, who has been molding us into an even greater plan.
While the coronavirus pandemic has not passed, we have been touching lives through our social networks, and in the same way, we have received testimony of what the Lord has done. We believe that the Lord has something giant to do in our generation, however, there will be many tears, prayers and fasts, until the day that we see the young people of Mafra and Brazil saved and transformed.
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